b2b customer experience management best practice study

4th Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business

Customer Experience ManagementBest Practices Study

2013 2nd Edition: Consolidated 2010-2013 Responses

www.ClearActionCX.com

About the ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices StudyThe Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study monitors the implementation of best practices in customer-focused management for sustainable profitability.

This is a study of the journey to world-class performance in how business-to-business firms (1) listen to customers, (2) view customers, (3) center employees on customers, and (4) center business on customers. It explores the motivations behind customer experience management (CEM) and its linkages to corporate goals, strategy, culture, processes, and business results.

Managing B2B customer experience can be quite challenging, with high involvement of numerous influencers of the purchase decision, high-stakes purchases with lengthy sales cycles, reciprocal buyer/supplier relationships, and complex touch-points across functional areas, managerial levels, and products, among other factors unique to B2B environments.

What’s new in 2013: • 10 questions unique to B2B CEM• A CEM strategy model • Analysis by groups of related CEM efforts to show context & linkages • Extensive recommendations• Presentation format

Past studies:• 2012: featured trends and B2B CEM success stories. • 2011: revealed advantages of six key drivers of B2B CEM success.• 2010: analyzed deployment scope and functional areas driving CEM.

This study was conducted by ClearAction customer experience optimization consulting. ClearAction maintains sole responsibility for the research, analysis, and recommendations in this report. We thank all of the study participants for sharing, and we appreciate CustomerThink for helping to generate widespread awareness of this study.

ClearAction is a customer experience optimization consulting firm that guides company-wide action on a clear view of customer intelligence. CX optimization aligns organizations with customer expectations, to minimize hassles, for natural customer enthusiasm, sustainable differentiation and growth of profit as well as revenue. http://ClearActionCX.com

CustomerThink is a global online community of business leaders striving to create profitable customer-centric enterprises. Each month, the site reaches 200,000 subscribers and visitors from 200 countries via email, RSS, LinkedIn and Twitter. CustomerThink currently serves over 80,000 visitors per month. http://CustomerThink.com.

This report and its contents may not be used for commercial purposes or derivative works without express permission from ClearAction. Please include attribution in references to the report contents.

Motivation for CX Management How We Listen to Customers How We View Customers How We’re Customer-Centered2© Copyright 2013 ClearAction LLC. All rights reserved. Consolidated ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study – 2010-2013

4th Annual ClearAction B2B CEM Best Practices StudyTable of Contents

Motivation for Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Journey to World-Class in How We Listen to Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Journey to World-Class in How We View Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Journey to World-Class in How We Center Our Employees on Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Journey to World-Class in How We Center Our Business on Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Executive Summary & Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Duration & Scope of Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Efforts . . . . . . .19

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Motivation for CX Management How We Listen to Customers How We View Customers How We’re Customer-Centered3© Copyright 2013 ClearAction LLC. All rights reserved.

Unique Challenges in B2C CEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42013 Highlights: Motivation, Listen, View, Center Employees & Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 CEM Success Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Comparison to B2C CEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Model for Customer Experience Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Participating Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Customers Served & Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Selling Model, Headquarters & Company Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Sales Cycle & Selling Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17CEM Job Tenure & Career Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Consolidated ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study – 2010-2013

The following pages suggest 3 ways of visualizing what’s needed in your CEM strategy. Here’s why:

• Lack of CEM strategy is cited as the biggest obstacle to achieving desired business results

• Among 23 well-known CEM practices, customer experience strategy ranks last in deployment

• Widespread emphasis on certain CEM practices indicates absence of building blocks toward business results

• Successful customer-centered companies follow this strategy: C4 + I2 + B2 = retention, loyalty, financial results• C4 = customer-centricity customer voice customer intelligence customer lifetime value • I2 = CX improvement CX innovation • B2 = internal branding external branding desired customer behaviors (retention, loyalty, financials)


Needed: a model for customer experience strategy

Methodology264 business-to-business customer experience practitioners responded to a 25-minute online questionnaire during the summers of 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. All participants sell products and/or services to businesses. Answers apply to the respondents’ business-to-business organization. Companies with fewer than 100 employees were eliminated.

Participants represent more than 20 industries in North America, Europe, and Asia. Representation is generally balanced across company sizes, selling prices, and sales cycles.

Half of participants have been in a job focused on CEM for 5 or more years. Marketing, service, strategy, or operations are common career paths.

The 2013 State of B2B CEM online questionnaire explored B2B organizations’ use of CEM techniques for listening to customers, viewing the customers’ world, and centering employees and the business on customers. Participants self-reported their use of various techniques as: perhaps world-class, well-established, just starting, on our wish list, or no plans / do not know.

The questionnaire also explored use of CEM technologies and tools for employee engagement and organizational customer-centricity. In addition, questions covered B2B CEM motivations, obstacles, achievements, reporting structure, and fit with day-to-day business pressures and strategic planning.

All of the items in the questionnaire are substantiated by other studies as best practices. Correlation analysis of strong business results and wider adoption of best practices has identified 6 success factors.

Participants were given the option of remaining anonymous. To-date, insufficient self-reporting of industry precludes industry comparisons in the analysis of B2B CEM best practices.

As tokens of appreciation, participants were invited to download an ebookor study report, and entered into a drawing for a contribution to charity.

Participating industries include: Business services, business supplies, chemicals, computer hardware, computer software, construction, energy/utilities, engineering services, facilities/real estate, financial/insurance, industrial automation, machinery, medical devices/pharma, mining /oil, packaging, plastics, printing/ publishing, professional services, telecommunications, textiles, transportation/logistics.

Job titles of participants include: Chief Customer Officer, VP-Customer Experience, VP-Client Services, VP-Customer Satisfaction & Quality, VP-Customer Operations, VP-Global Client Insight, SVP-Customer Success, VP-Customer Care & Support, VP-Sales Ops & Business Development, Head of Quality & Planning, Director-Customer Experience, Director-Customer Experience Specialists, Director-Customer Advocacy, Director-Global Client Insight, Director-Customer Marketing, Director-Strategic Products, Manager-Customer Experience, Manager-Segment Analytics & Loyalty, Manager-Customer Loyalty Development, Manager-Customer Marketing, Manager-Customer Voice, CRM Department Leader, Customer Experience Lead, Customer Engagement Champion, Manager of Customer Excellence Deployment.


Participating Companies in the ClearAction B2B CEM Survey, 2010-2013


• Abbott Medical Optics• Acer Computer• ACL Services• Adobe• Advanced Integration Technologies• Allianz• Allstream• Americold• ANX• Aon• Atlassian• Audatex• Autodesk• Aviva• Bank Muscat• Bosch• Canada Post• Carey• Cell C• Cemex• CHEP• Ciena• Citirx• Colliers International• Colt Technology• Copart• CPI Card Group• Crowe Horwath

• John Deere• Kennametal• Lawson Products• LexisNexis• Lexmark• Level 3 Communications• Lifetech• Lumension Security• Maersk• Mapfra Asistencia• Matheson Fast Freight• Merck• Miller-Heiman• Mine Safety Appliances• Minitab• Mutual of Omaha• Navis• NCR• Neustar• NII Holdings• Nobel Biocare• Omnitel• Orange• Perkin Elmer• Pershing• Pitney Bowes• Qliktech• Rentokil Initial

• Sage• Sandisk• Sanitop• SAVO Group• Schneider Electric• Siemens• Simplex Grinnell• Spigit• SunGard• SunPower• SunTrust• Surgical Information Systems• Symantec• Symmetricom• Tango/04• Thermo Fisher• Thomson Reuters• TNT Express• Turassist• UPS• US Bank• Verisign• Walker• Walsworth• Welch Allyn• Xerox

• DirectEnergy• Domino Printers• EMC• Enogex• Equinix• Etsilat• Experian• Fifth Third Bank• First Caribbean International

Bank• Fuji Xerox• General Electric• Genpact• Global Crossing• Global Knowledge• Gorkana• Grameenphone• HealthNow• HCL• Hewlett-Packard• Hong Kong CSL Limited• Huntington Bank• Hydro-Quebec• Infosys Lodestone• Ingersoll Rand• ISS Worldwide

Notes: Many additional companies chose to remain anonymous. Some of the above participants opted to keep their company and industry information separate from their responses.Confidentiality of all responses is assured by ClearAction.


All participants sell to businesses64% are in software, services, automation, telecom, supplies, energy industriesWe serve these customer types: My company’s industry is:

Other industries represented include:• Business Services• Chemicals• Construction• Engineering• Facilities / Real Estate• Mining / Oil• Packaging• Plastics• Printing• Semiconductors• Textiles• Transportation / Logistics


42%

39%

49%

56%

100%

Consumer

Non-Profit

Retailers

Government

Businesses

6%

6%

6%

6%

9%

10%

10%

10%

10%

15%

Medical Devices / Pharma

Computer Hardware

Finance / Insurance

Machinery

Energy / Utilities

Business Supplies

Telecommunications

Industrial Automation

Professional Services

Computer Software

Dedicated sales force is typicalMost participants are mid-size & large companies in North America & Europe

My company employs ____ people:(including all locations, full-time, part-time, contractor)

My company sells our B2B products/services via:


29%

38%

39%

91%

Agents / brokers

Internet

Value-added resellers

Dedicated sales force

0%

12%

11%

20%

22%

19%

6%

14%

Less than 100 employees

100-500 employees

501-1K employees

1-5K employees

5-10K employees

10-20K employees

20-50K employees

More than 50K employees

2%

8%

23%

68%

Middle East

Asia/Pacific

Europe

North America

My company headquarters is in:

Participants’ sales cycle is typically within 3 months, 6 months, or 1 yearSelling prices are generally split among < $10K, < $100K, < $1M, > $1M

Typical sales cycle for our primary B2B product/service: The average selling price (ASP) for our primary B2B product/service:


4%

7%

34%

22%

25%

7%

Within a week

Within a month

Within 3 months

Within 6 months

Within a year

Longer than a year

9%

17%

26%

29%

19%

Less than $1K

$1K-10K

$10K-100K

$100K-$1M

Greater than $1M

46% of participants have 5+ years tenure in a CEM-focused jobCareer paths from marketing, service, strategy, ops

I have been in a job focused on customer experience (CX) management for:

My career has mostly been in:

Tenure of 5 or more years reflects B2B organizations’ commitment to managing customer experience.

Recommendations: The variety of career paths to B2B CEM roles is healthy, and ideally the CEM teams within companies are comprised of a cross-section of career backgrounds. Diversity of business experience is important to facilitating stakeholder engagement in organizational and behavioral change.


9%

20%

25%

46%

Less than 1 year

1-2 years

3-4 years

5 years or longer

12%

14%

22%

23%

Operations

Strategy

Service

Marketing

4%

5%

6%

8%

8%

IT

Engineering

MarketResearch

Quality

Sales







Executive Summary & Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Duration & Scope of Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Efforts . . 19Main Differences Between My Company’s B2B vs. B2C CEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Glossary of Customer Experience Management Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Revenue-Growing CEM Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Profit-Growing CEM Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Customer Experience Management Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Recommendations for CEM Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Voice-of-the-Customer Intelligence CX Improvement CX Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Touch-points UX Co-innovation Service Excellence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Lifetime Value Customer Care Complaint Resolution Retention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Internal Branding Internal Customer Satisfaction Customer-Centricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Branding Experiential Marketing References Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Community Advocacy CRM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86


The main differences in how we manage B2C CEM versus B2B CEM include high-touch in B2B and multiple decision-makers in B2B

• B2B is people-driven, B2C is more web-driven. (Professional Services)

• B2B focuses on customer relationship improvement during the contract life time. (Telecommunications) As the structure of how we do business with consumers is totally different to how we do business with other companies, the way in which we manage our B2B focus on clients has to reflect the different management model, touch-points and interactions involved. (Finance/Insurance)

• B2C sales are through channel resellers; B2B is direct sales and through partner networks.

• We can sell direct B2C over the web; there always has to be human intervention (by customer services or sales) with B2B sell.

• Dedicated sales and customer service channels.

• CRM, experiential marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, contact center management, and social media customer service have a stronger role in B2C; direct sales force with tighter customer relationships in B2B.

• Customer segmentation (service, sales) / value-based account management.

4th Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study -- 2013


Continued on the following page

This question was asked of companies that sell both to consumers and businesses.

HIGH TOUCH IN B2B: EXTENSIVE INTERACTIONS AMONG PEOPLE

• Our product delivery system is reliant on resellers to service our end consumers so we support B2B customers with more operational support. (Professional Services)

• Designing CX for multiple customers: purchaser, end-user, influencer -- and yet having a consistent CX. We are currently working to define what this is across all touch-points. (Computer Software)

• Recognition that B2B decisions are often made in the context of a committee, versus a single individual for consumer. All of our listening processes and analysis have to be conducted with this difference in mind.

• Much less developed B2B experience strategy, definition and governance. Much is handled via account relationships rather than formal VOC programmes, although some NPS is used at a relationship level. This is a financial services company and so it lags behind in CEM maturity.(Finance/Insurance)

• Final delivery for B2C is the break-point we must avoid, therefore the approach is different from B2B. (Transportation/Logistics)

• Not any difference -- we are set up for B2B and only occasionally sell B2C.

• Programme isn't advanced in any way to call it a value as yet.

• We are only just beginning to have B2C transactions, and we are developing a marketing and CX plan for this group.

4th Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study -- 2013


Continued from the previous page

This question was asked of companies that sell both to consumers and businesses.

ESTABLISHING GOVERNANCE IN B2B

MULTIPLE DECISION-MAKERS IN B2B

Glossary of customer experience profit-growing terms

Customer Care: organization's conscience in favor of customers' welfare, & outreach to customers accordingly.

Customer-Centricity: degree that customers' welfare is at the center of the solution provider's decision-making & actions.

Customer Complaint Resolution: solving issues & communicating solution to complaint originator.

Customer Experience Improvement: process-wide problem resolution & prevention.

Customer Experience Innovation: designing & implementing novel methods to enhance customer experience.

Customer Experience Optimization: profit growth by preventing hassles and waste, for natural customer enthusiasm to buy, recommend, and rebuy

Customer Intelligence: customer data integration, mining, analysis.

Customer Touch Points: opportunities for customers to interact with you or your messages or products/services (includes life cycle & journey maps).

Internal Branding: understanding by each employee, supplier, & alliance partner of their specific impact on external customer experiences.

Internal Customer Satisfaction: attention to quality & timeliness of hand-offs between internal departments.

Service Excellence: delivery of purchased services or remedial services, or post-sale assistance to customers.

User Experience: intuitive/inviting environment for use or exploration/purchase of the product or service, e.g. website.


Recommendations: These CX efforts have profit-growing potential because they can minimize mis-alignment of the company with what’s important to customers. By focusing the business on making things easier and nicer for customers to get and use the solutions they need to run their business and satisfy their customers most effectively, repurchase and recommendations are a natural result, making marketing, sales, and service efforts more efficient and freeing up resources to add greater value.


Glossary of customer experience revenue-growing terms

Branding: creating and communicating a distinctive identity.

Co-Innovation: joint product development efforts with customers.

Customer Advocacy: word-of-mouth promotion of a brand by enamored customers.

Customer Community: opportunities for customers to engage with one another.

Customer Experience Management: revenue growth by managing customers’ propensity to buy, recommend, and rebuy

Customer Lifetime Value: profitability of customers' cumulative purchases.

Customer Loyalty: efforts to expand customers' share of budget, e.g. move toward sole supplier status.

Customer References: testimonials from customers.

Customer Relationship Management: CRM, customer facts/transactions database for personalized communications, upselling, cross-selling, data mining.

Customer Retention: efforts to extend a customer's duration of ongoing purchases.

Voice-of-the-Customer: monitoring customer sentiment.


Recommendations: These CX efforts have revenue-growing potential, and in haste for achieving business results, they are often practiced with minimal profit-growing CX efforts underway. (In daily practice, some of these phrases are used interchangeably; semantics are extremely problematic in the CX field. For clarity among all involved, this study is based on the definitions shown here.) Due to high transparency and customers’ sophistication, a solid foundation of profit-growing CX efforts is recommended to build substance from which these sizzle-related outcomes flow naturally.



Motivation for Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management . . . . . . . . . . . . 34






Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Top 3 Goals That Motivate My Company’s CEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Greatest Achievement by Pursuing #1 CEM Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37CEM Achievements B2B Firms are Most Pleased About . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Greatest Obstacles to CEM Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40In a Perfect World, Ways B2B Firms Could Reach Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43CEM as a Differentiator, Formal Process or Decision Influencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Importance of VoC Versus Instincts, Stock Market, Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Role of CEM in Corporate Strategy and Day-to-Day Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Coordination Among Managers of CEM Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Examples of Executive Engagement in B2B CEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49


Executive Summary & Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3


In a regularly scheduled call with employees, the CEO of SunGard Energy Solutions spends a few minutes on financials and the bulk of the time on the customer perspective of (1) growth, (2) getting and staying lean, (3) customer satisfaction, or (4) employees who want to be here. Numerous business acquisitions over the years caused disparate approaches by the various business units, with no customer focus. In the CEO’s two years now at the helm, a noticeable shift has taken place. “We are developing into a workforce that wants to always do what the customers need," explained Milista Anderson, Chief Customer Officer, whose role is to facilitate customer-focused change in processes, policies and practices.

Motivation for CX Management How We Listen to Customers How We View Customers How We’re Customer-Centered49© Copyright 2013 ClearAction LLC. All rights reserved. 4th Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study -- 2013

Examples: Executive Engagement in B2B CEM

The CEO at a telecommunications network equipment supplier has championed the customer cause throughout his 12 years leading the company. With a Customers First corporate values statement that was designed by employees, top management understands the necessity of every employee understanding the customers’ needs and business drivers. The company has established a cross-functional team of Customer Experience Specialists who focus organizational efforts to continuously create value for customers. They also drive company-wide customer-centered change through cross-functional initiatives.

FOCUSING ON CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE UNDERSTANDING THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY

CUSTOMERS 1ST CORPORATE VALUES

When customer experience took a prominent place in the business strategy at ICW Group (insurance), everything changed. Chief Customer Experience Architect, Carol Buehrens, recommends: “Buy CX books for your executive team, talk to them send them to seminars, and educate them, because once you get them drinking the Kool-Aid, the rest of the company will follow. Like an army, they are the generals. And you can’t have the army deciding what battles to fight or the strategy; the generals have to lead.”

ICW has examined numerous aspects of CX through customer journey mapping. Each map is shown to customers for validation, tweaking, and improvement. Mapping is a team sport, with the CX team allowing them to be their own champions, guiding and mentoring them to make things better for customers.

Due to executive engagement and the team sport approach, when an internal Customer Advocacy Board was announced, dozens of employees volunteered to participate. The cultural change toward being a customer-centered company that once appeared insurmountable is make continuous strides.



Journey to World-Class in How We Listen to Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50





Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86


Recommendations for CEM Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Voice-of-the-Customer Maturity Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Multiple Influencers of Buying Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Word-of-Mouth & Text/Speech Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Complaints & Lost Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Listening via Executives, Front-Line, Communities, Advisory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Transactions & Overall Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Examples of B2B Voice-of-the-Customer Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58






Journey to World-Class in How We View Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59




Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86



Recommendations for CEM Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Integrate Sources, Coordinate Accounts & Single View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61End-to-end CX & Post-purchase Touch-points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Lifetime Value, Segmentation & Predictive Analytics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Technology: Warehouse, Mining, Analytics, Business Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Technology: Feedback, Workflow, ERP, Performance Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Technology: Interactions, CRM, Sales Intelligence, Customer Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Technology: Social, User Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67


5%

4%

13%

4%

14%

24%

Use predictive analytics to anticipate customerreactions to what-if scenarios

Calculate customer lifetime value

Segment customers based on lifetime value orcustomer experience parameters

2013 2012

Customer lifetime value & predictive analytics may compel customer-centricity


Recommendations: Customer lifetime value (CLV) should be the driving force for your CX strategy, business case, and investments. *After* you have made operational improvements is the right time to seek CEM linkages to business results. Ideally, CLV is based on cumulative profit over the duration of a customer relationship. Take baby-steps toward that ideal by calculating revenue and overall costs for groups of customers, and add sophistication to your CLV analysis over time. By segmenting customers based on CLV or customer experience parameters (e.g. trigger for purchase intent or primary desired outcome or integration of your offering) you’ll see customer groups and their priorities and unmet needs in a whole new light, illuminating innovation and differentiation opportunities. Predictive analytics are now much more accessible through recent technologies, and should be instrumental to your navigation of strategic choices across your business challenges.

Perhaps World-Class + Well-Established

CEM Success Factor


14%

20%

19%

30%

29%

58%

39%

42%

18%

15%

7%

Use predictive analytics to anticipatecustomer reactions to what-if scenarios

Calculate customer lifetime value

Segment customers based on lifetime valueor customer experience parameters

Perhaps World-Class Well-Established Just StartingOn Our Wish List Not Planned/Unknown

How would you rate your B2B practice of these CEM activities for viewing customers accurately?





Journey to World-Class in How We Center Our Employees on Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . 68



Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86



Recommendations for CEM Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Presenting CX to Employees & New-Hires; Expecting & Rewarding Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Performance Reviews & Incentive Pay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Strategic & Tactical Decision-making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Tools: Empowerment, Engagement, Relationship Skills & Internal Branding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Tools: Accountability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Tools: Recognition & Incentive Pay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Examples of Centering Employees on B2B Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76







Journey to World-Class in How We Center Our Business on Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77


Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86



Recommendations for CEM Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Complaint Resolution & Closed-Loop for Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79VoC Guidance for Product Development & Strategic Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Visibility of Customer Metrics & Cross-organizational Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Review of Internal/External Policies & Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Tools: Sponsorship, Facilitators & Change Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Tools: Quality Tools, Balanced Scorecards & Benchmarking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Tools: Organizational Learning & Systems Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85










Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86


Consolidated Recommendations from This Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Articles:

Are B2B & B2C CEM Different? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Model for Customer Experience Management Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Putting Customers First: If Not You, Who? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Customer-Centricity Goes Beyond Customer Experience Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Customer Experience Management is Like Herding Cats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Past Studies: Table of Contents & Profile of Participants for 2012, 2011, 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Resources to Learn About Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114


Customer experience management (CEM) of consumers or business clients may seem really different, or essentially the same, depending on your perspective. Customer surveys are a universal CEM practice, and both B2B and B2C companies have been measuring customer satisfaction since the late 1980s and early 1990s, as part of their ISO 9000 and total quality management commitments. Accordingly, customer satisfaction improvement has been an ongoing endeavor for more than 20 years for many companies.

CRM, experiential marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, contact center management, and social media customer service are more obviously applicable to B2C. Hence, these practices have probably been embraced by B2C to a greater extent than B2B. Since these practices have come into vogue more recently than customer satisfaction measurement and improvement, some of us have come to equate CEM with such practices.

However, many B2B firms have always relied on direct sales forces with tighter customer relationships due to lengthy sales cycles and high average selling prices, and ongoing high-touch post-sale. Tighter customer relationship management is what CRM and the rest are really about, right? So let’s give B2B credit for their version of these aspects of CEM.

Both B2B and B2C often have a middleman: consumer packaged goods manufacturers reach end-users through retailers; likewise, many B2B companies may sell through value-added resellers or manufacturer agents, or they may make an ingredient that is actually used by the next link in the consumption chain. Both B2B and B2C companies could probably make great improvements in capturing and acting upon voice-of-the-customer from middlemen as well as end-users.

Anything being done inside the company to establish customer-focused culture is universally applicable to both B2B and B2C firms.


Important differences that should be accommodated in B2B CEM include:• The multiple influencers (end-user, purchasing agent, plant manager,

safety department, etc.) of B2B buying decisions infers a need for more complex/comprehensive VoC and internal follow-up on findings.

• The interfaces between functional counterparts (e.g. seller engineers meeting ad-hoc with buyer engineers, not always as a specific step orchestrated by the sales team) at seller and buyer companies is another complexity in the buyer journey and in managing a consistent customer experience.

• Many buyers are also sellers to their buyer.• B2B buyers are sometimes more influenced by downstream demands

and economic factors than by their own whims/preferences.• B2B companies often have locations around the world, which requires

effort to generate consistency of brand and customer experience, yet flexibility for local needs.

• The competitive nature of B2B firms’ customers may make “likely to recommend” less relevant than in B2C.

Most of the issues above are managed by *someone* in some B2B companies, but rarely by whoever is charged with customer experience management, which tends to have a narrower scope than it should, given the important implications of the above list.

Are B2B and B2C CEM Different?

My take: there are few differences in actual practice. Currently, B2B and B2C customer experience managers are essentially doing the same thing. And I think that B2B is not lagging B2C anywhere near the extent that many claim.

by Lynn Hunsaker, ClearAction Customer Experience Optimization Strategist



Model for Customer Experience Management StrategyStrategy for customer experience management is lacking for most organizations, according to numerous studies, and lack of strategy is a cited widely by customer experience (CX) practitioners as a key obstacle to achieving business results. A close look at the most prevalent CX practices underscores this dilemma: we’re “putting the cart before the horse” with near-brute-force on business results and by forgoing the essential building blocks to sustainable CX ROI.

Truth About Customer Experience Goals

Most of us are pursuing retention, loyalty, service excellence, and customer experience differentiation. Let’s explore the nature of these goals:

• Customer retention (duration of relationship) and loyalty (share of budget, recommendations) are outcomes that cannot magically occur through marketing campaigns or enticements, except with short-term spikes.

• Service excellence would be much easier to achieve if routine confusion externally and internally was prevented, freeing up front-line employees to focus on value-add opportunities rather than remedial issues.

• Customer experience differentiation would be more feasible if: o Voice-of-the-customer methodology was designed to help the

company make necessary transformations.o Customer intelligence integrated all sources of CX data for a

holistic picture of customers’ plight.o Everyone across the company had an insatiable curiosity about

customers and passion for innovating the customer experience.

Why the Cart’s Before the Horse

Career path biases of CX practitioners, pet projects of executives, ambitious purveyors of CX technologies, and eagerness to embrace shiny silver bullets are some of the perpetrators of the gold-rush strategy for customer experience business results. We need to step back and take a look at logical cause-and-effect of business and human behavior (externally and internally), with a holistic viewpoint, in order to get on the right track toward our goals for differentiation, excellence and financial rewards.

How to Get Customer Experience Business Results

To put the horse in front of the cart so your customer experience efforts have a fighting chance of making a strategic impact and delivering ongoing business results, develop your CX strategy with the essential building blocks:

(1) Customer voice(2) Customer intelligence and lifetime value(3) Customer experience improvement and innovation(4) Customer-centricity roadmap(5) Internal branding(6) Branding

And keep reminding everyone that all 6 of these building blocks must be in-play to achieve sustainable growth (ROI). What will it take to adopt this model in your organization?

(continued on the next page)



Here are 6 truths:1. Revenue comes from customers. We are pretty good at “tuning our

radar” to what turns on/off our boss who has power over our salary and career progress, so it makes sense to likewise tune our radar to our ultimate boss: customers. -- This is the Customer Voice building block.

2. Collation and interpretation of data picked up by our radar becomes valuable intelligence, and if we can quantify the value of our relationships, we're equipped with the necessary knowledge and motivation to adjust our behavior to what’s needed for success with our boss. -- This is the Customer Intelligence & Customer Lifetime Valuebuilding block.

3. Dedication and creativity allow us to improve and innovate ourselves and our situation so that the boss sees us as indispensable to our collective success. -- This is the CX Improvement & Innovation building block.

(continued from the previous page)

4. Keeping our boss’ well-being at the center of our decisions and actions gives us a secure backdrop for moving things forward on-the-fly and for being in the right place at the right time to make the most of the best opportunities. – This is the Customer-Centricty building block.

5. It certainly makes sense to center our teams accordingly: get everyone on the same page with regard to what makes the boss tick and how their work impacts the boss’ well-being and our collective success, and to engage everyone in proactively managing their work for the best outcomes. – This is the Internal Branding building block.

6. With all these building-blocks in place, now you can feel at ease to toot your own horn. Let your stakeholders know about the great things you’re capable of providing, and make it compelling for them to help themselves through your capabilities. – This is the Branding building block.

CEM Strategy Model

Important Note: It is through these 6 building blocks that sustainable retention and loyalty are achieved. Like so many laws of nature, one cannot short-circuit this process and expect lasting results. In fact, attempts to leapfrog any of the building blocks will likely lead to inefficient resource use and customer distrust, with suboptimal profitability and short-term revenue growth, at best.



CustomerVoice (1)

Customer Intelligence (2a)

CX Improvement (3a)& CX Innovation (3b)

Customer LifetimeValue (2b)

Retention (7b)

Loyalty (7a)

Growth (8)

Customer-Centricity

(4)

Branding(6)

InternalBranding

(5)

Model for Customer Experience Management StrategyThis model illustrates the coordinated efforts required in CX optimization strategy: C4 + I2 + B2 = Business Results

Aim: Growth of profit & revenue via Loyalty (i.e. share of budget, recommendations) x Retention (i.e. relationship duration)

C4: Customer-Centered, Customer Voice, Customer Intelligence, Customer Value• Command Module: Customer Voice• Propellant: Customer Intelligence (VoC & ops/market data)

+ Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)• Parachute (for safe landings): Customer-Centricity

(i.e. customer well-being at the center of everyone’s decisions & actions)

I2 Engine: CX Improvement + CX Innovation (i.e. acting on intelligence & CLV)• Turbines: VoC Action Plans, Touch-points, Journey Maps, User

Experience, Co-Innovation, Complaint Resolution, Service Excellence, Customer Care (i.e. conscience & outreach for customers’ well-being)

B2 Thrust: Branding + Internal Branding (i.e. making + keeping promises)• Lift: [ Internal Customer Satisfaction + Employee Engagement ]

x [ Experiential Marketing, References, Community, Advocacy (i.e. word-of-mouth), CRM ]

(continued from the previous page)

I2: CX IMPROVEMENT + CX INNOVATION

B2: BRANDING & INTERNAL BRANDING

C4:

BUSINESS RESULTS:


Table of Contents:1) Motivation for CEM• Top 3 Motivations for B2B CEM• Role of CEM in Corporate Strategy and Day-to-Day Business• Current Emphasis of B2B CEM• Investment in Customer Knowledge, Well-Being, Profitability• Deployment Company-wide or in Some Business Units• Coordination Among Managers of B2B CEM Methods• Greatest Obstacles to B2B CEM Success2) Journey to World-Class in How We Listen to Customers• Our Practice of Customer Voice Activities• Journey to Voice-of-the-Customer Maturity3) Journey to World-Class in How We View Customers• Our Practice of Customer View Activities4) Journey to World-Class in How We Center Our Employees on Customers• Our Practice of Employee Customer-Centricity Activities• Employee-Related Tools for B2B CEM5) Journey to World-Class in How We Center Our Business on Customers• Our Practice of Organizational Customer-Centricity Activities• Organization-Related Tools for B2B CEM• Technologies in Use for B2B CEM7) Methodology8) Related Articles• 10 Characteristics of Customer Experience Management• 8 Paths to Value Through Benchmarking Studies

Study Theme:Shows 3-year trend data and features stories of B2B CEM successes, featuring companies such as Ciena, Citrix, LexisNexis, Maersk Line, Orange, SunTrust, Symantec, tw telecom, and others In business services, building materials, remarketing, and semiconductor industries.

Study Launch Press Release:prweb.com/releases/customer/experience/prweb8412325

Study Report Press Release:prweb.com/releases/customer/experience/prweb9053422

©2012 ClearAction LLC. All rights reserved. 2012 ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study

Participants’ Job Roles:Senior VP of Client Experience and Loyalty, VP of Customer Experience, VP of Member Experience, VP of Customer Satisfaction and Quality, Chief Marketing Officer, Customer Experience Officer, Head of Customer Experience, Head of Customer Service, Global Customer Experience Director, Customer Experience and Insights Director, Customer Advocacy Director, eBusiness Strategy & Customer Experience Director, Enterprise Customer Fulfillment Global Director, Global Customer Experience Manager, Customer Experience Manager, Customer Experience Program Manager, Business Intelligence Manager, Commercial Accounts and Development Manager, Market Research Senior Manager, and Senior Customer Satisfaction Analyst.

Motivation for CX Management How We Listen to Customers How We View Customers How We’re Customer-Centered108© Copyright 2013 ClearAction LLC. All rights reserved. 3rd Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study -- 2012

2012 B2B CEM Study: Overview http://http://ClearActionCX.com/benchmarking2012

Profile of 2012 B2B CEM Study ParticipantsNumber of Employees Markets Served by Company

Tenure in CEM Role

Motivation for CX Management How We Listen to Customers How We View Customers How We’re Customer-Centered109© Copyright 2013 ClearAction LLC. All rights reserved. 3rd Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study -- 2012

Company Headquarters

Table of Contents:1) Motivation for CEM• Top 3 Motivations for CEM• Greatest CEM Achievements• Top 5 Methods for CEM• Greatest Obstacles to CEM Success• Role of CEM in Corporate Strategy• Role of CEM in Day-to-Day Business• Level & Function of Person Driving CEM• What Would Help Us Reach CEM Goals2) Journey to World-Class in How We Listen to Customers• Our Practice of Customer Voice Activities• Reasons to Monitor Perceptions• Ways We Monitor Customer Perceptions• How Often We Collect Survey Data• Who Manages Customer Survey Data3) Journey to World-Class in How We View Customers• Our Practice of Customer View Activities• Who Receives Customer Survey Data• Groups that Act on Customer Survey Data• Focus of Customer Survey Analysis• Methods for Making Survey Data Available4) Journey to World-Class in How We Center Our Employees on Customers• Our Practice of Employee Customer-Centricity Activities• Employee-Related Tools for CEM• Funding Employee Engagement in CEM5) Journey to World-Class in How We Center Our Business on Customers• Our Practice of Organizational Customer-Centricity Activities• Organization-Related Tools for CEM• Funding Customer Engagement in CEM6) Functional Areas Driving CEM• Customer Well-Being• Customer Knowledge• Customer Profitability7) Methodology

Study Theme:Identified 7 success factors linking CEM to corporate goals, customer-centric culture, and stronger business results.


Study Report Press Release:prweb.com/releases/customer/experience/prweb9053422

Participants’ Job Titles: Vice President of Customer Experience, Vice President of Customer Operations, Vice President of Customer Care & Support, Customer Engagement Champion, Director of Client Experience & Loyalty Development, Director of Customer Care, Director of Client Experience & Voice of the Customer, Director of Strategic Accounts, Director of Sales, CRM Department Leader, Manager of Business Excellence Deployment, Customer Experience Program Management, Project Manager, and Group Manager.

Bonus Article: Customer Care ... CRM ... Customer Experience: What's the Difference?

Motivation for CX Management How We Listen to Customers How We View Customers How We’re Customer-Centered110© Copyright 2013 ClearAction LLC. All rights reserved. 2nd Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study -- 2011

2011 B2B CEM Study: Overview http://ClearAction.biz/benchmarking2011http://ClearActionCX.com/benchmarking2011

Profile of 2011 B2B CEM Study ParticipantsNumber of Employees

Company Headquarters

Markets Served by Company

Tenure in CEM Role

Motivation for CX Management How We Listen to Customers How We View Customers How We’re Customer-Centered111© Copyright 2013 ClearAction LLC. All rights reserved. 2nd Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study -- 2011

Table of Contents:

1) Maturity:• Company-wide Views of CEM• Role of CEM and Walking the Talk• Company's Historical Focus2) Goals• Top 5 Motivations for CEM• Business Results: Current Performance vs. Goals3) Investment• Annual Percentage of Revenue• Change Since 2005• Areas of Increased Investment4) Influencers• High & Moderate Impact on CEM Success• Top 5 Obstacles to CEM Success5) Implementation Scope• Customer Voice• Customer View• Customer Centricity6) Functional Areas Driving CEM• Customer Well-Being• Customer Knowledge• Customer Profitability7) Methodology8) Appendix• Comparison of B2B and B2C Studies• B2B Myths Debunked• How Do You Learn Best Practices? (Question Asked on LinkedIn

and Focus.com)• 4 Related Articles Regarding 10 Characteristics of Customer

Experience Management

Study Theme:Examined the functional owners of various CEM programs, and the scope of organizational deployment


Study Report Press Release:prweb.com/releases/2011/1/prweb4946354

Participants’ Job Roles:Voice of the customer, market research, data-mining, customer intelligence, customer relationship management, customer references, experiential marketing, loyalty, customer lifetime value, customer community, word-of-mouth, co-innovation, branding, internal customer satisfaction, service excellence, call center, user experience, and complaint management.

Motivation for CX Management How We Listen to Customers How We View Customers How We’re Customer-Centered112© Copyright 2013 ClearAction LLC. All rights reserved. 1st Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study -- 2010

2010 B2B CEM Study: Overview http://ClearActionCX.com/benchmarking2010

Profile of 2010 B2B CEM Study Participants

Number of Employees

Participants’ Career Path

Markets Served by Company

Tenure in CEM Role

Motivation for CX Management How We Listen to Customers How We View Customers How We’re Customer-Centered113© Copyright 2013 ClearAction LLC. All rights reserved. 1st Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study -- 2010

Customer Experience Optimization Talk ShowHear interviews with companies such as:

Adobe, Aon, CenturyLink, Cisco, Citrix, Coca Cola Enterprises, Dell, EMC, GE, HP, ICW, Intuit, Kimpton, NCR, Philips, Safelite, Sungard, SunTrust, Symantec, TELUS, tw

telecom, Virgin Mobile, Wells Fargohttp://ClearAction.biz/podcasts

e-books available at www.ClearAction.biz/innovation or Amazon Kindle:

Metrics You Can Manage For SuccessCustomer Experience Improvement Momentum

Innovating Superior Customer Experience

white paper available at www.ClearAction.biz/strategyEmployee Engagement in Superior Customer Experience:

4 Overlooked Key Competencies for Sustainable Results


Resources for Learning More About CEM Best Practices


Send us a note: [email protected]


ClearAction Understands Unique B2B CEM Challenges

Let’s talk about developing a CEM strategy that helps you clearly see what’s needed for company-wide action in universal and B2B CEM challenges.

The ClearAction team has first-hand experience engaging employees to drive significant change for B2B customers.




Assess the Strength of Your CEM Strategy

Let’s take a look at the quality of your customer experience management strategy.

Tap into our broad expertise across all aspects of CEM. We’ll show you ways to engage stakeholders, demonstrate value, and increase business results.


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For More About Customer Experience:

www.ClearActionCX.com/best-practices

[email protected] +1 408 687 9700

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